And A Day
by Athena13
Summary: Follows "Forever" - Cassy comes across a case that elicits unwelcome memories from her own past just when Tom is recovering from his injury and finding his wedding ring under his pillow.
1. Chapter 1

Written: 2000; 2004; 2013  
Rated: M (violence, adult themes)  
Setting: Post-Forever  
Summary: Cassy said, "I know I can't live with you, but I can't live without you." What if the first part of the bedside confession wasn't true? While Tom is still recovering, Cassy is caught in the middle of another case that hits close to the bone. This time, Tom is awake to help her through it.

_**So don't leave me  
'Cause a part of you in me died  
We wish ourselves beautiful  
We cry in the night  
And it's not the love you feared  
But the fall from the height  
My personal ledges  
Afraid to look down  
from **__Ghosts of Jackson Square_ by Edwin McCain

**1**

"It's an honor to be working with such a legend, Sergeant St. John. I hope that I can live up to your expectations as your new partner." Frank Cole shook Cassandra St. John's proffered hand.

"Temporary partner, and call me Cassy. Half of the credit for my legendary clearance rate of course goes to my partner and I'm sure that Harry wouldn't have given you this temporary assignment if he didn't think you could handle it." Despite her professionally encouraging words, Cassy couldn't quite keep a rather unprofessional grin off her face.

This had to be quite a challenging situation for a rookie. First and foremost, he had big shoes to cover while her partner, Tom Ryan, recuperated from the gunshot wound that almost took his life. She could tell that he also found it daunting being partnered with the woman who single-handedly took down Viggo Kirby's crime syndicate, bringing swift justice to the man that harmed her partner. As a result of her self-assigned mission to take down Kirby, tales of her undercover identity as a masseuse and the succeeding gunfight in the hospital corridor outside Tom's ICU room were still causing a stir among her fellow officers. Cassy knew that in and of itself those factors were enough to make this invincible-looking man squirm, but it got even better than that. There was more to the story, though.

Her successful action had led to some prideful kudos from even her most harsh detractors and to the usual repulsive propositions from her more daring comrades. Frank Cole with his athletic build, brown hair, brown eyes and engaging smile had been more original - he had combined his gracious expressions of praise with an even more welcome invitation to dinner. An invitation that had been taken up just days before and which had ended with a rather chaste kiss at her front door.

The small grin on St. John's face widened as she imagined the younger man's reaction to the news that he had been assigned as her temporary partner. Slowly she disengaged her fingers from his and moistened her pink lips with her tongue. Her smiled widened almost imperceptibly as she watched him swallow. The irony was almost delicious.

"Now that the social amenities are out of the way, how about we get down to business?" Captain Harry Lipshitz, their superior, commented dryly from his seated position behind his desk, prompting his officers to sit down.

"Frank will sit at Tom's desk while you two are working together since there's no sense in you two sitting across the bullpen from each other. And this," Harry held out a slip of paper that Cassy took and began to read to herself. "Your inaugural homicide, Cole. Cassy will be lead on this one, watch and listen and you'll learn a lot."

Cassy watched for a reaction from her male partner to see if he had a problem, as some men did, taking direction from a woman. So far, so good, she thought as she handed him the note. With all of the other complications that this situation could lead to, at least she didn't have to worry about any gender-based tug of war.

Nostalgically she remembered the first assignment she had gone on with Tom, though he was the more experienced member of the team and he had been lead, he had made it clear from the get go that he wasn't going to go easy on her because she was a woman. He had been true to his word and she had, as Harry promised Frank, learned a lot.

At the thought of her absent partner Cassy's smile slipped a little, her expression almost matching the grim one she noticed on Cole's face and which brought her back to the task at hand.

"We'll call you as soon as we take a look," Cassy told Harry as she led the way out of the office. She knew without him having to tell her that the press was going to be interested in this one.

"We didn't want to make your first homicide too easy," Cassy teased, trying to lighten Cole's obvious tension. Harry was never one to start anyone off with a simple case; he wanted to see right off what his homicide rookie was up to before any time was wasted.

"I guess I'm going to have to get used to it sometime. Most of the DB's I saw were drug perps," Cole said, lines of tension springing up around his eyes despite Cassy's attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

"You don't get used to it, you just learn how to control your reaction," Cassy repeated her Captain's oft-repeated advice. Advice that years later she could vouch to be true, the images of life cut off violently never left and often haunted the dreams of those who bore responsibility to make them right. Or as right as they could be. Most people didn't ever understand that. That's both why cops married cops and cops divorced cops because two people with that baggage in one household could get to be too much.

Chagrined to find her thoughts dwelling on Tom again, Cassy speedily signed for the Department car and took the driver's seat.

* * *

"I know you don't think you need to do this Sergeant Ryan, but like it or not, you're not going to get clearance from the Department if you don't follow the prescribed course of therapies," Palm Beach Police Department Psychiatrist Lila Sorren reminded her truculent patient. "You're commitment and cooperation will make this a lot easier and quicker for you."

Tom's childish pout turned quickly into a charming grin.

"And you're not going to sweet talk me into falsifying records. You're down for at least two months of physical therapy and bi-weekly sessions with a departmental psychiatrist, that's me, for one month. Both with an indefinite number of follow-ups, as needed. There seems to be only minimal permanent injury and you'll probably be allowed to handle part time desk duty in about a month."

Tom grimaced. A month of head shrinking felt like forever.

"Tom, I know that this is frustrating, but you've made a miraculous recovery but you're not going to get back to your life before this all happened with the snap of your fingers and there will probably be some small amount of permanent brain injury and it may crop up in unexpected ways and at unexpected times. But it will be nothing unrecoverable and you just have to remember that many people in your position aren't so lucky."

Tom shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked away. The fact that he was _lucky to be alive_ and that he _shouldn't rush things_ were things that he heard daily from his parents and anyone else he happened to talk to that day. He knew that they were right, he had seen too many of his friends and colleagues not get so lucky. But it didn't make it easier when his body refused to follow his commands or when he was debilitated with a searing headache.

He was tired of trying to remember how lucky he was. The only thing he needed to know was how soon his life would get back to normal. When, for instance, he could play the guitar without stumbling because his fingers sometimes refused to obey him or he could begin to jog again. Or when he could look at Harry and Franny and not see fear incited by memories of the late Sergeant Chris Lorenzo. Or when Cassy would stop trying to be so damn cheerful he wanted to strangle her!

Cassy's behavior was the hardest for him to bear. Never easy to read, it was like his injury had taken away the past decade. He couldn't read what was going through her mind. All he knew was that despite her pasted on smiles he could sense that Cassy wasn't feeling as sanguine as she wanted to make him think. It made him hesitant to ask her about the ring because he knew she wasn't ready to give him a truthful response.

The ring. The damned wedding ring she had told him she had sold.

Before his release from the hospital a few days earlier the nurse had found it under his pillow while changing the bed sheets. Even if he hadn't recognized it as his, his suspicion was confirmed by the nurse's reading of the ring's still-crisp engraving of their initials spaced only by a heart and followed by the word "forever." A sappy touch he had insisted on and, despite her nonchalance towards the idea, had caused a special sparkle in Cassy's eyes when she found it. So yes, it was the very same band that he had thought sold after the divorce when Cassy insisted that they split the proceeds on the rings they had bought for the other. Just what was it doing under his convalescence pillow?

He wished he could have seen the look on her face when she placed it beneath his pillow, before she had gone out and risked her life to bring down the man responsible for his condition. He knew he would have been able to see what she was feeling in her eyes when she held that ring in her hand. Before she ran off to play _Jane Wayne_.

_That_ was a moniker he had given her on their first case together, but never before had she lived up to it so fully. Not only had she caught the man who tried to have him killed, but brought down an organization that every law enforcement agency working South Florida had been after for years. Tom only hoped that her success enabled her to work out whatever feelings of helplessness she must have had after bearing witness to his shooting and being unable to stop it, the control freak that she was.

"Tom, Sergeant Ryan, hello?" Lila finally got Tom's attention. "We need to talk about how all this is making you feel. I want to help you work it all out so you can be clearheaded when you get back into the field."

"The only thing on my mind is when I can get back into that field to cover my partner's impulsive ass," Tom grumbled.

"Sergeant St. John. Yes, I see here that she used to be your wife and she was with you when you were shot. She refused to come see me. Have you two discussed the experience?" Lila asked.

"If you think I'm reticent, you should try getting Cassy to tell you how she _feels_." Tom laughed, his mood lightening as he imagined Harry or anyone trying to send his ex-wife to a shrink.

"I'm going to, but right now we're discussing your feelings," Lila said.

"Oh, so Cassy is going to have to go through this too. Somehow that makes me feel better already," Tom said with a grin.

"I can see you're not ready to talk today, but we will have to talk about it eventually." Lila relented with a sympathetic smile. "How are your headaches?"

"They come and go, less than before." Tom shrugged.

"Go home and rest and, Tom. Don't be too macho to take your medication if you need it." Lila stood up and led her exasperating, yet endearing, new patient to the door.

"What, take two and call me in the morning?" Tom joked.

"Actually, our next appointment is in two days." Lila allowed herself a smile. "Give it time, Tom. Things will get better. I promise."

* * *

"You all right?" Cassy glanced over at Cole sitting in the passenger seat.

"Just gathering my nerve. That probably doesn't sound very macho, but you know..." he shrugged and graced Cassy with a lopsided grin.

"I'm not impressed by macho." Cassy eased the department car into a spot behind a marked car and undid her seatbelt. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Cole said as he got out of the car.

No longer speaking, the partners flashed their badges and entered the sprawling ocean-view home. Cassy's heels clicked over the tile floor of the foyer as they followed the flurry of activity towards the victim. Both were unaware of the attention their entrance attracted, some by of the glint of the sun off Cassy's silky hair, others by the newly promoted detective, and others by the striking pair they made.

"Morton," Cassy greeted Sterling Morton, Palm Beach's Coroner. "This is the newly minted Sergeant Frank Cole. What do we have?"

Sterling greeted Cole before turning his attention back to the form lying on the middle of the kitchen floor.

"Pamela Beresford, thirty-five, multiple stab wounds, defensive wounds on the hands. She definitely tried to stop her attacker. My initial exam indicates she died from a fatal would to her heart, but I'll be able to pinpoint the exact cause of death back at the office. Let us know when you're done looking around." Morton moved away to let the detectives take in the murder scene.

"Looks like she was fixing breakfast." Cole observed the open carton of milk lying on its side on the floor behind the body.

"For two people." Cassy's brow furrowed at the two bowls of dry cereal on the counter.

"Maybe whoever she was making breakfast for did this. Let's find out about the family." Cole motioned over one of the uniforms.

"I don't think so." Cassy moved one of the bowls with the tip of her finger. "This is a small child's bowl."

Sure enough with the other bowl out of the way one could see the Pokèman design on the side of the smaller bowl.

"Did anyone find a child here?" Cole motioned over Officer Kate Janeway.

"No, we didn't know there were any children here," Kate informed them.

"Kidnapping?" Cole suggested grimly.

"It cou...Is anyone upstairs?" Cassy's head spun around.

"There shouldn't be, we did a sweep when we got here and found nothing." Janeway automatically glanced towards the stairs at the other end of the kitchen.

"I heard something. Search the grounds for a child. Frank, take the front stairs, I'll go up here," Cassy said and took out her gun before proceeding carefully up the winding stairs..

As Cassy headed down the corridor of the second story her heart was pounding. Something inside her said that she wasn't going to find the murderer, it was never that easy. The soft shuffling that had caught her attention confirmed that. No, those steps were most likely that of the child whose mother lay bloody and brutalized on the kitchen floor only feet away from where she had been preparing an inviting and healthy breakfast for her child. The child had to have witnessed the tragic events and was so scared that he or she hadn't come out even when the police had arrived.

Cassy all too well understood what this child was going through.

Cassy saw Cole down the corridor from her and with a wave of her hand she directed him to remain in position. Slowly, Cassy reholstered her gun and put her hand on the door knob of the only room she hadn't inspected. Breaching protocol Cassy knocked on the door and announced her entrance before she slowly opened it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her partner heading in her direction. Turning to catch his eye she shook her head and was relieved to see him obediently stop a few feet away.

"Hello, my name is Cassy and I'm a police officer. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you, Jason." Cassy spotted the boy's name on a plaque on the wall. "No one is going to hurt you now. I promise. Please come out."

Cassy moved slowly across the room looking for places in which a little boy might hide. Taking a deep breath Cassy wrapped her fingers around the knob of the closet door. With a slight hesitation, aware that it could very well be the killer in there, she opened the door.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you quack911 for the interest. I started this story YEARS ago and just found it. Have a few chapters done and am planning on finishing it. Just might take a while._

**Chapter 2**

"I feel fine." Tom waved his mother away. He was sitting on his sofa trying to enjoy a tape of the FSU games he had missed while in the hospital. He hated missing the beginning of the season when he could get a feel for this season's new crop of players and measure the progress of the upperclassmen.

His mother's hovering was distracting him from watching FSU trounce Texas A&M in the Kick Off classic played at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Chris Weinke had returned to the Seminoles as a coach after six years of pro-baseball and at twenty-six, not that much younger than himself Tom thought, and Tom was eager to see his performance.

"I just want to make sure you're comfortable," Margaret Ryan said, her voice still had that stressed edge that made Tom feel guilty.

"I know Mom." Tom pushed the pause button on the remote. "I know you're just trying to make me more comfortable, but if I was anymore comfortable I might as well not be living."

"That's not funny Thomas Patrick Ryan!" Margaret gasped. Just over two weeks ago her little boy had almost been dead. She couldn't bear jokes about it. Especially when he still suffered from headaches and intermittent vision problems during those headaches as his brain recovered from the damage to his occipital lobe.

"Maggie, why don't we go to the store?" Liam Ryan interjected both physically and vocally into a scene that was becoming all too common in the small apartment.

"Tom shouldn't be alone," Margaret objected.

"Then you go, I'll stay here with Tom." Liam shot his son a look to prevent Tom from speaking. Liam was certain he was going to protest that he didn't need a babysitter.

"Fine," Margaret agreed and picked up her purse and the rental car keys. Before leaving she kissed both her son and husband.

"I'm not going to slip into a coma if you leave me alone." Tom stood up and began to pace as soon as the door closed behind his mother. "I know, I know. She's worried about me. You're worried about me. Cassy, my brother and sister are worried about me. Franny, Harry, and, even Morton are calling me or stopping by every day! I appreciate it all, I do, it's just...I feel so smothered. I can't work. I can't drive. I have to see a shrink and I can't work out except with a physical therapist looking over my shoulder. Cassy is even treating me differently."

"You know it's because we all care about you," Liam said calmly from his seat on the sofa as he watched his pacing son.

"I know. I just want to put this all behind me and as much as I love having you here I can't get on with my life with my mother washing my underwear!" Tom said indignantly. "It's not that I'm not grateful, but don't you need to get back to the restaurant?"

"As a matter of fact I was going to tell you that I'm leaving in two days," Liam pulled his son's hand and guided him onto the sofa next to him.

"And Mom?" Tom asked.

"I haven't been able to convince her to come back with me. She's afraid to leave you here alone," Liam confirmed.

"Maybe the doctor can convince her?" Tom suggested, without much hope in his voice.

"Maybe you can stay with someone? Or have someone stay here?" Liam said.

"Who do you have in mind?" Tom asked warily.

"Cassy."

"No! Cassy and I tried that living together thing, remember? Seven months and we were ready to kill each other! Do you know how long it took for us to even be on speaking terms after that?" Tom objected vehemently. He didn't want Cassy to see him like this. At least when he saw her for a short time he could pretend that things were normal.

"I'm not asking you to marry her. I was just suggesting that you stay with her temporarily to satisfy your mother. Cassandra has an extra bedroom. Or you could stay with Harry and Franny?" Liam said.

"I'm beginning to feel like I'm twelve," Tom sighed out slowly.

"It's the only way you'll get your mother to come home with me," Liam said.

"What if I just pretend I'm going to stay with...someone?" Tom asked.

"You have never successfully looked your mother in the eye and lied to her," Liam snorted. "Isn't there a girlfriend you're hiding from your mother?"

"No. Do you think I date women I would be ashamed to introduce to my parents?" Tom asked innocently.

"I know you do, Thomas, I know you do." Liam grinned proudly.

"Yeah, well, not with this hair," Tom motioned towards the shaved parts of his head around the smaller bandage that covered the surgical remnants from the piece of fake bone they had inserted to close the entry wound.

"You'll be back in the game in no time," Liam comforted his son.

"I wonder how Cassy is doing with her new partner." Tom changed the subject as he lifted the remote and restarted the football game.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Cassy kneeled down as she peered into the dark closet.

"Joshua, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a police officer and I'm here to protect you. We all are. My name is Cassy." Cassy reached her hand out into the darkness.

"He hurt my mamma." A small, wavering voice broke the tense silence.

"I know he did sweetheart, but we won't let him hurt you," Cassy promised.

"Do you have a gun?" Josh asked.

"Yes," Cassy confirmed.

Before she could wonder the import of the question a bundle of warmth flew into her arms and knocked her off balance. Reflexively her arms held the boy in her arms as his weight pressed her back against the floor.

"He...he...knife," the boy was trying to explain through his sobbing.

Cassy was grateful to feel Frank's hands pushing her back into a sitting position as she held onto the sobbing child. Cassy hid her face in the boy's blond hair and whispered words of comfort. The position also helped her hide the few tears that had escaped her eyes and slid down her own cheeks. Her arms tightened as she struggled with her own emotions.

"Let the paramedic look at him," Frank whispered in her ear.

"Joshua, will you let the paramedic look at you? I want to make sure you're okay," she asked him.

"You'll stay with me?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll stay," Cassy promised. The child didn't recognize that her smile was strained, but she had a feeling that her temporary partner had. Just as he could see the tear tracks down her cheeks that she swiped away with the sleeve of her jacket while the child was distracted.

The paramedic, a woman, kneeled down in front of them.

"I'm Julie," the petite brunette introduced herself. "I'm just going to make sure that you are all right. Your name is Joshua right?"

"Josh," the little boy corrected as the medic skimmed her hands over him checking for injuries as Cassy remained sitting behind him.

"Well, Josh, I think you're fine," Julie smiled encouragingly a minute later.

"I hid, he didn't see me," he told Cassy.

Cassy nodded her thanks to the paramedic as she turned the little boy back around and used the tissues the other paramedic had given her and wiped the boy's face. "We're going to go away from here to somewhere safe."

"So he won't kill me like he did my Mamma right?" Josh asked, his brown eyes somber as he looked at Cassy for confirmation.

"How old are you Josh?" she asked.

"I'm nine and three months," Josh said.

"Then you're old enough for me to tell you that we want you to help us make sure the man who hurt your mother can't hurt anyone else. I'm going to take you to the police station with me and talk for a while. Then we'll call someone to get you." Cassy wondered if the kid's father was in the picture, but didn't dare ask in case the answer was no and it upset the kid further. It was going to be hard enough for him to learn that his mother was dead.

"No my dad. He doesn't care about me. He left and has a new family in Miami."

"I'm sure your father loves you, he just wanted to make sure your mother wasn't without you." Cassy forced a false brightness into her words. He was even younger than she had been when she learned that Evelyn didn't want her around disrupting her new family. "We'll call him when we get to the station. Now, we're going to put this blanket around you and Frank here is going to carry you out to our car."

"Hi, I'm Frank." Frank kneeled down and shook Josh's hand. "We'll take good care of you."

* * *

"Tom, it's Harry."

"What's up Captain? Need me to come in?" Tom knew he sounded far too hopeful for something so unlikely.

"Don't rush it Tom, who knows when I'll let you have another vacation," Harry said wryly.

"Some vacation," Tom grumbled.

"Actually, I'm calling on behalf of Cassy. I know she was supposed to stop by tonight."

"Has something happened?" Tom's voice rose, attracting the attention of his parents who stood not too far away in the kitchen. They turned to see what was wrong.

"Cassy's fine, she's just stumbled upon a case with a bit of, uh, complication and won't be able to join you and your folks for dinner," Harry told him.

"Complication?" Tom's shoulders dropped back to normal at the reassurance that Cassy was safe. Now he wanted to see if there was something he could help with.

"I sent her and Frank Cole out on a case this morning. A mother was murdered, her son was a witness, and he's become attached to Cassy so she and Cole are staying with him at the Station while we try to find the kid's father."

"Both of them have to stay with him?" Tom's face screwed into a scowl.

"The boy is a witness and Cole's her partner on this one. They haven't gotten the whole story out of him yet. Sorren advised them to go slow," Harry said, referring to the Department psychiatrist Tom was too acquainted with lately for his own comfort.

"How is Cassy holding up?" Tom asked quietly.

"You know Cassy, she wouldn't let you know she was in pain even if all of her internal organs were taken out," Harry said.

"Yeah." Tom agreed. He didn't point out that she had been more squirrely than usual lately, even when it seemed like she was unable to cover up emotions that were closer to the surface than Tom had maybe ever seen in her.

"The boy is nine," Harry said without having to be asked.

Suddenly, his father's idea didn't seem like such a bad one. While he didn't need looking after, Cassy just might on this case. And maybe he could help solve it, unofficially. Also a plus was the fact that while Cassy was acting weird, she never hovered. She also would be busy with the case so he could hide the stumbles in his recovery from her.

"Listen, Harry. My parents need to get back to Boston and I need for them to go. But they won't leave if I'm alone," he hinted.

"Frannie would be happy to have you," Harry interrupted.

"Actually, I was thinking I could stay with Cassy."

"Two birds with one stone," Harry said after fifteen seconds of considering it. "Good luck." Harry hung up

"Thanks," Tom mumbled as hung up the telephone.

Now, the challenge was convincing Cassy.

* * *

"Social Services has been called," a uniformed officer quietly informed Cassy before leaving the room with a curious glance at their young witness.

Cassy expressed perfunctory thanks even as her insides clenched. It was standard practice since they'd learn that Josh's father was on a business trip in China and his stepmother was too afraid to come and get him and have him stay with her when she was home alone with a baby. She didn't want to send this traumatized kid to Social Services until his father traveled back, however well-meaning they might be. No one there would be able to give him the personalized attention he needed, even if they knew how to do it. Nor could they protect him. Those were two things Cassy could do better than anyone.

She turned back to Josh who was eating the ham and cheese sandwich one of the uniforms had gotten from a café near the station while Josh was meeting Dr. Sorren. They were currently ensconced in the locker room where Josh had been allowed to shower and change into the clothes that they had bought for him since everything in the house was currently off-limits. The sound of a straw sipping the remnants of the can of cola made Cassy smile. She knew how important smiles were to a kid in this situation. Dr. Sorren had told him his mother had been killed, but it hadn't sunk in yet. Sooner or later the reality of the situation was going to hit him hard and there was no point in showing him dour and forbidding expressions.

"Do you want another soda?"

Josh shook his head and took the last bite of the sandwich.

"Let's go wash your hands. Then we'll talk about where you'll stay until your father arrives." Cassy hoped that being direct with the kid wasn't too much for him. She was conscious of not being experienced in figuring out what were age-appropriate communications. But Tom would with all those nieces and nephews, she admitted to herself, wishing he could be there with her just then. Healed and strong.

"I can wash my hands myself."

Cassy watched him head towards the bathroom and stood up and walked over to the door to the locker room. She stuck her head out and confirmed the coast was clear of her temporary partner and then stepped back inside. She walked over to the telephone and dialed Harry's office extension.

Upon hearing her Captain's usual greeting she got right to the point. "I want to take the kid home with me. He needs protection and Social Services can't provide it."

"I'm doing well, how are you, Cassandra," Harry said dryly. "If you take on protection of the kid you can't lead the investigation."

Damn. Cassy hadn't given that a thought. She had already been jonesing to head back to the scene and take a look around the extensive grounds of what she already knew had been the family home the mother and son were allowed to live in after the divorce. She tugged on a hank of hair and looked back towards the bathroom. For reasons she didn't want to delve into, being pulled off lead in the case, at least officially, wasn't enough reason for her to give up making sure the kid stayed safe.

"Fine. But I'm handling when and how Josh gets questioned."

"Since I agree with your assessment I'll run interference with Social Services, on two conditions." Harry wasn't about to tell her that he had already run that interference up the chain of command and gotten approval for police protective custody at least until the father arrived. He couldn't get clearance to keep the kid until they cleared the ex-husband of being involved in the murder since there was no evidence either way.

"What are they?" Cassy grimaced, expecting Harry to put a crimp in her attempts to keep control of the case.

"One, you follow Dr. Sorren's instructions on the questioning."

"Fine." At least Harry hadn't brought back up her refusal to see the Doctor herself, though she knew it was just a matter of time. "The other?"

"Tom stays with you."

"Tom?" Cassy's brow furrowed in confusion. "He's not cleared for duty."

"His dad needs to get home and Tom shouldn't be alone. His mother won't leave if he is and Tom needs some space from his folks."

Cassy's eyes narrowed. This was too easy. There had to be something she was missing.

"Take it or leave it, St. John!" Harry barked out when the silence went on too long.

"Agreed," Cassy said hurriedly as Josh came out of the bathroom, his eyes redder than they were before he went in, explaining clearly to Cassy why she had been to have this conversation for so long. "We're going to head back to my place now."

"Bring your partner and a black and white with you. I'll make sure Tom gets dropped at your place later."

It suddenly occurred to Cassy as her boss hung up the phone that she just agreed to live with her partner. That was the catch. That hadn't gone so well the last time. Hence the divorce.

"Looks like you're coming home with me, Josh? That okay?"

Josh just shrugged, his brown eyes betraying his confusion.

"You're going to stay with me until your father gets back from China." And I can investigate him for any involvement in your mother's murder, she thought to herself. "My friend Tom will be staying with us, too. He was hurt recently so he's staying with me for a while."

Which, she realized, would give her some built in day care so she could still work the case. Assuming, of course, Cassy worried, Tom was even up to staying with a kid. She pushed the distressing thought away.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"Nah," Cassy held her hand out to the boy. "He's my work partner."

"He get injured in the line of duty?" Josh asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes." Cassy didn't feel the technicalities needed to be explained.

"Was he stabbed like my Mom?"

"No," Cassy answered uneasily. Maybe this was a bad idea for a whole host of other reasons having to do with traumatizing the kid further? Nah, Cassy rationalized. He'd see that Tom was doing okay. She just wanted to warn him before he saw the bald spots, the thankfully decreasing in size bandage, and the painful headaches he wouldn't admit to having.

"How was he hurt?"

"He was shot." The sound of that particular gunshot echoed in Cassy's mind, but she kept her reaction off her face. Only the fingers on her right hand, which were out of his sight, twitched.

"Where?"

"The head." The sight of Tom unconscious and on the ground only propped up by his car flashed in front of her. The feel of blood on her hands as she felt for a wound and tried uselessly to stop the bleeding. She ruthlessly shoved it all away and focused on leading Josh through the station.

"Wow. And he's okay?"

"Yeah, he's okay." She repeated that in her brain as she hooked her fingers on her temporary partner's suit jacket to get his attention. "We're heading to my place."

"Harry called. Pacer and Clark are going to follow us."


End file.
